


from the world of mists

by charjo



Series: unfinished, imperfect [1]
Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 06:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13828638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charjo/pseuds/charjo
Summary: this is the Mistborn segment of theunfinished, imperfectcollection. if you haven't read the explanation for that, you might want to; otherwise these fics will look even more like hot messes than they already are.





	1. broken pieces

**Author's Note:**

> this is the Mistborn segment of the _unfinished, imperfect_ collection. if you haven't read the explanation for that, you might want to; otherwise these fics will look even more like hot messes than they already are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written for cfswf, never finished because it felt too dramatically out of character. and too dramatic in general.

Kelsier watched Vin attack Ruin and felt at peace with the world, with the universe, with her decision. This was what she had been meant to do. The ultimate sacrifice that only she could make.

Light exploded in the sky at the moment she killed him, sending trails of white and black mist down to the mounds of bodies. They rushed back up, swirling into columns, trembling slightly at their release. Kelsier stretched out a hand.

_Nobody is holding them…_

Elend’s spirit collapsed into the Cognitive Realm, and Kelsier took his attention away from the unattended powers to grin at him. Elend groaned, then blinked as he registered Kelsier’s presence. Kelsier held out his hand to him instead.

“I always imagined death as being greeted by everyone I’ve ever loved in life,” Elend said, allowing Kelsier to help him up. “I hadn’t imagined that would include _you_.”

“You need to pay better attention, kid.” Kelsier looked him over. “Nice uniform. Did you _ask_ them to make you look like a cheap knockoff of the Lord Ruler, or was it more of an accident?”

“Wow. I hate you already.”

Kelsier slapped him on the back, almost fondly. Strange, that. “Give it time. For most, that eventually fades to a sense of mild exasperation.” He looked back at the powers, then at the figure of light scrambling towards him. It fell to its knees at Vin’s body, which was still glowing faintly. The figure was familiar.

“Sazed.” How lost he must be feeling right now. Touching him, Kelsier was able to see the shock, the fear, the pain of his expression. The end was still in motion. Vin hadn’t saved them completely.

But there was, as always, yet another secret. Sazed looked up at the powers as he rose from his knees, reaching for both, and Kelsier could only stare.

“It’s him. He’s the Hero.”

Elend casually placed a hand on Kelsier’s shoulder, pulling him away from Sazed. “You need to pay better attention. Kid.”

Twenty six years old and calling him ‘kid’. Kelsier did have to admit, it was a nice turn of phrase. He could appreciate that later, though, when a close friend of his wasn’t becoming the Vessel of not one, but _two_ godly powers.

“How? How is he Connected to them both, so evenly? Why not just Preservation?”

“He has changed, this last year. Ruin is more than death and destruction. It is peace with these things.”

They could see Sazed, his knowledge, his power, expanding, but Kelsier tore his attention away from the Ascension to look for someone else. Where was Vin? Elend seemed to be wondering the same, looking across the landscape with confusion written across his face.

A figure began to materialize from the power, and Kelsier almost sighed from relief--she wasn’t stuck between Realms or something awful like that, she hadn’t been subjected to more pain--but…

The figure stumbled and fell to the ground, becoming more solid. Red hair.

That wasn’t Vin.

Kelsier began to walk in his direction. Ati stood up and pushed a hand through his hair, glancing around him disbelievingly. “Vax?”

Kelsier grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him close. “Where’s Vin?”

The Vessel of Ruin looked taken aback. “She’s not here?”

“No, but you are. So where is she?”

“How should I--”

“Kelsier,” Elend called, voice strained. Kelsier pushed Ati away from him, then pulled his arm back and punched him clean across the face. He left his spirit sprawling across the ground and shook out his hand as he headed towards Elend.

He was kneeling near Vin’s body, almost touching her, but not quite. Horror was written across his face.

Her figure was still glowing.

* * *

She woke up.

There was still blood in the air, bodies scattered around her, ash and smoke clogging the air. People huddled near the cavern entrance, staring out at the carnage and up at the air above her. Too real, too similar to what she thought she'd left. The sense of eternal, calming peace she’d held just moments before began to dissipate like the mist as her surroundings began to sink in.

She was _alive._

“ _No_.”

A body to her right with a shock of red hair, clearly dead. They were equally matched. They had been _equally matched_ …

“No. No, no, _no!”_

A body to her left. Still headless. Still dead.

Her only reason…

“No. No, this can't--”

“Lady Heir?” a woman cautiously asked, approaching slowly. “Where… how did you…?”

He was _dead_.

And she was alive.

“ _Elend_.” Her voice broke in a sob, and she reached for his body. “ _No._ ”

“Lady Heir--”

“This wasn't supposed to happen,” Vin whispered, tears streaming down her face. His body was so _cold_. “How did… how am I…”

“Lady Heir,” the woman said, more insistently, glancing at something above them. “Lady Heir, we must get inside. Something is happening.”

“I can't leave him. I won't--I can't leave him.” _Not again. Not again. Not again…_

* * *

_She’s still alive._

“I have to go back,” Elend said frantically, holding onto Vin’s misty figure. She was shaking, clutching Elend’s body as if she could bring him back through pure force of will. “There _has_ to be a way! I can’t just leave her alone like this now!”

How? How was she still alive? Had Sazed…?

“Kelsier, _help me_. She’s…”

“She won’t be alone,” Kelsier said, trying to reassure himself as he spoke. “Breeze, Ham, Spook, they’re all…”

Desperation crept into Elend’s voice. “They’re not--they’re not _enough_. You know that. They’re not as close, they don’t know--please, she’s lost so many people…”

Another blurry, glowing figure tried to pull Vin away, but she flinched and held Elend’s body tighter, and Elend sobbed, his previous composure disintegrating. “I have to go back!”

Kelsier was panicking. _Why didn’t she die?_ “I--I don’t know--”

The misty ground pulled up, over both Vin and the glowing figure beside her, protecting them as Sazed began to remake the world. It pushed Elend away until he was left staring at his hands uselessly.

“No. _No_.” The world was being remade around them, and Elend ignored it all. “Kelsier--we have to find a way. I need to be able to go back. She needs--no, she doesn’t--I can’t--”

“I'm _thinking!_ ” _The Well of Ascension is gone. Could he become part of Sazed’s powers somehow? Could Sazed give one of them up?_

_There's so much I still don't--_

Elend’s form was beginning to blur.

He saw Kelsier’s attention dart to the pull and came to the same conclusion, glancing at the Beyond in fear. He stood up and strode to Kelsier, grabbing him by the shoulders as if Kelsier could anchor him.

“You stayed. How did you--”

Kelsier was already shaking his head, trying to make himself think _faster_. “You have to have Ascended, or become part of one of the god’s powers or something. Sazed has them, maybe he--”

One look at the glowing figure, the roiling landscape, told them that Sazed was too busy at the moment. If only Kelsier had taken the power--maybe he could’ve…

“There has to be a way. There _has_ to be another way!”

“Elend…” Kelsier’s voice was breaking with his heart. _Vin’s lost him again._ “It’s too late.”

Half of him was gone, faded to the Beyond. Elend looked out to it again, and his face softened this time, just a little. He forced himself to turn back.

“It’s too late for me. But not for you.”

“What?”

“You’ve stayed here all this time. You’ll stay for a long time more. You have to go back, Kelsier,” he said fiercely, locking eyes with him. “Do you hear me? You have to find a way to go back so she’s not alone.”

“I…” _He should be the one to go back. She needs him more._

“Promise me, Kelsier.”

_He can’t._

“I will.”

Elend nodded, the tension releasing from his body like a sigh. He let go of Kelsier’s shoulders.

And faded.

* * *

Vin could only dimly register what happened, in the dark. People spoke of her in hushed whispers, glancing at her reverently, but they gave her a wide berth. They could hear the scraping and the rumbling around them as the world was recreated, as it moved, bending to Sazed’s will. To them, it was her doing. She had done this, saved the world.

They were wrong. Elend had saved the world.

He should’ve lived.

But if he had lived, she never would have had the courage to die.

It was all too much. She curled into a ball on the floor, glad they kept away from her, and stayed there.

She didn't know how long it took, or how long she stayed there after people left. Someone must have told Spook, because he spent a good while trying to convince her to get up and come out with him.

“It’s amazing, Vin. The world--it’s just like how Kelsier said it would be. There’s so much color, so much _green_. I know… I know he would’ve wanted you to see it.”

Vin didn’t react, didn’t move. And after a while, Spook left, telling her he had some things to attend to, but he’d be back.

He sent Breeze, Allrianne, and Ham in his place. They tried talking directly to her for a bit before figuring out that it wouldn’t do anything, but they didn’t leave. Breeze sat gingerly on the floor and listened to Allrianne and Ham talk about nothing, occasionally redirecting Ham back to the conversation from a philosophical tangent or contributing a witty remark.

And all the while, she remained silent.

* * *

“I'm sorry, Vin.”

Everyone was saying they were sorry. It didn’t help anything.

“I know. Platitudes are meaningless, worthless in these situations. But this is not a platitude. I'm sorry, because I was too late. Again.” Sazed--Harmony--glanced away. “Even as a god, I am… inadequate.”

She didn't respond.

“You must understand, Vin," he said after a moment. "He wasn't your only reason for living. You can live for yourself.”

* * *

She put her earring in sometimes, and if Sazed could spare the mental capacity he and Kelsier would sit with her. Sometimes they let her stare at the wall, sometimes they spoke in soft tones about their losses--Mare, Tindwyl. How they wished it could've been them, how it should've been them.

They meant the best, but no matter what they said, they didn't understand. She had been ready to die to be with him. He was the reason she'd been able to defeat Ruin--because she could accept death if he would be there.

Kelsier told her about the minutes after Elend had died, how he'd fought to come back to her in the little time he had. She sensed he wasn't telling her everything, but she didn't press it. It already hurt enough.

* * *

“I'm trying to come back, Vin. Spook and I are working on a way. We're going to find a way. I have so much to do… but I can be there for you too.”

She nodded listlessly. It didn't matter. He couldn't be there more than he was in the Cognitive Realm. It didn't help.

“Sazed can't know, okay?”

She nodded again, and she took her earring back out and didn't put it back in.

* * *

Everyone was so _delicate_ around her. She wanted to scream at them, tell them to _stop_ doing that. No… no, actually, she wanted them to attack her. Then she could be justified in hitting them back--she could feel anger and adrenaline and savage victory as their _mistake_ of thinking her _weak_ dawned on them.

It wasn't right, she knew. She trained alone, often at night, when no one else was around--she might hurt Ham or Spook if she practiced with them. She tried to beat the frustration out of herself, punching the bags of sand as though they had been responsible for his death--her life--their separation.

* * *

Marsh returned once. The rest of them shuffled their feet, looked down or away or greeted him uneasily. The Church whispered fearfully that Marsh was an omen of death. _The last Inquisitor._ _Ironeyes._ They averted their eyes and clutched at their religious symbols when he passed. Vin stared at him directly.

_You killed him. You buried your axe in his chest and you took off his head._

It was Ruin who had done those things, she reminded herself. Ruin did it. It wasn't Marsh’s fault.

It didn't change the fact that she had seen Marsh behead her husband.

_If I'd managed to kill you before, he might still be alive._

He was only there for supplies, and to tell them he would not return. They gladly gave him what he requested and more, told him of their respect and their sorrow for his situation.

And yet, Vin was the only one of them who could hold his gaze--one empty socket, one metal spike. And when he left, she walked with him.

“Where will you go?” she finally asked, after hours of silence.

“Wherever Harmony feels I am needed most.” His voice was so different now, gravelly and painful. Vin nodded.

It took her a while to muster enough will to speak again, and a while more to force the words out of her mouth.

“It wasn't your fault.”

Marsh chuckled humorlessly. “It's all right to blame me, Vin. I know you do. I know they do. I know… I know _I_ do.”

Vin didn't speak for another few minutes, gathering her words again. “Maybe I do blame you. But that doesn't make it all right. Because it wasn't your fault.”

Marsh said nothing. They walked for a few hours more. When they reached the edge of Lake Luthadel, Vin stopped. To reach Luthadel before dusk, she would have to return now.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” Marsh said as she turned to go back.

It wasn't a challenge or a taunt. It was tired and sad, a statement of fact. They both knew it was true.

“But I didn't,” Vin whispered.

And she left.

* * *

Vin knew she should've felt grateful that so many people she loved made it out of that mess alive--Breeze, Ham, Spook, Marsh--but she couldn't. Not when Elend was gone.

Everything felt numb and lifeless. The brightness of the grass, the flowers Mare had wanted, the yellow light--somehow it was just as dull as the ash. She felt like she was choking, sometimes. Choking on the numbness. All she wanted to do was sleep, but sleep just brought her nightmares.

So Vin burned tin to be able to feel _,_ and she burned pewter to be able to stay awake.

She kept both burning low most of the time, like she had before, but a little higher. On her worst days, she flared her tin until the starlight made her squint and a breath of wind sounded like a thunderclap, just to make sure she could still feel anything, even pain; and she flared her pewter until she felt like she could destroy a building with her bare hands and dance along the dust cloud that followed. And that worked, for a while. Until her body adjusted, and she had to burn it a little higher.

Spook noticed when he saw her flinch at Beldre’s whisper across the room. He confronted her mere hours later, with the rest of the original crew in tow. That was only Ham and Breeze, now. She didn't know how to feel about that, so she didn't.

“Vin, you have to stop that.”

“Stop what?”

Spook gestured at her. “The tin. I know you're flaring it. Pewter, too?”

Vin glanced away and didn't respond.

“It messes you up, Vin. Alters your perceptions, the way you think, _everything_. You have to stop before it gets worse.”

“I can't stop,” Vin whispered. “If I stop, everything becomes numb again. I can't do that, Spook.”

“I know. But--”

“You don't know,” Vin said incredulously. “You _don't_ know. How could you? You have Beldre. She's _alive._ ”

A flash of anger contorted Spook’s features, just briefly. He stepped closer, lowering his voice to an angry growl. “You honestly think I don't know? I lost my _family._ They _abandoned_ me. And I lost Kelsier, too, Vin. He wasn't the father figure he was to you, but I lost him. And I lost Clubs too. Don't you _dare--”_

“I was ready to die!” Vin screamed at him, making her own ears ring. “I should have _died_ with him, Spook! He was _all I had left to live for!_ ”

Spook looked taken aback, but only for a moment. “None of us were enough? It was _just_ Elend Venture, keeping you here? Do you know how _selfish--_ ”

 _“I don't care!_ ”

“You don't care about us?”

“I--”

A pulse from her bronze.

Vin stopped dead, expression frozen into disbelieving anger. Her eyes widened, and she slowly turned to Breeze. “Are you Soothing me?” she asked, deadly calm.

To his credit, Breeze didn't flinch. “Of _course_ I am! Vin, you're obviously frazzled. We all are. I Soothe people! It takes the edge off, lets people function like they should. It’s what I _do._ It’s all I _can_ do.”

Vin straightened up, still frightfully calm. “I don't want to be Soothed.”

“Very few people do, my dear.”

She flared her copper. “Don't try that, Breeze. I don't want to feel any less.”

“I'm sure you think you don't, but I think--”

She extinguished her metals abruptly, then burned duralumin and brass with a yell. All three people in the room gasped in shock as she flattened their emotions to _nothing._

“You feel that?” she snarled at Spook, at Breeze. “I _won't_ stop burning tin, and I _won't_ let you Soothe me. I _can't_.” She almost laughed. “I feel like that _all the time_ when I don’t. You understand? I won’t do it.”

Spook hissed through his teeth, holding his stomach as though he'd been stabbed, but managed to stand up straight. “But we can't let you keep doing it, Vin. It isn't good for anyone. Especially you.”

Vin stared him in the eye, then Breeze. Ham wouldn't meet her gaze.

She turned and stalked out of the room.

* * *

She didn’t go far. They would either assume she’d run far away or that she’d come back. Perhaps they’d look for her, after a while.

The last time she'd been here was after she and Zane had ravaged Cett’s armies. Elend had found her, curled up in this nook, contemplating her own despicable actions. How he'd managed to calm her down felt beyond her capacity to understand, now.

She toyed with her earring. What she wouldn't give to be able to speak with him like she could Kelsier and Sazed.

* * *

“There’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask you, Vin.”

She said nothing. Kelsier took a deep breath.

“I know you miss him. And I know you… you’re looking forward to seeing him again. All I wanted was to see Mare, so long ago. To tell her I didn’t blame her, that I figured it out, that it wasn't truly her fault. To tell her all about you. The daughter we never had. But… you’ve held the power of Preservation, Vin. The power of a god.”

“What?”

“You could _stay_ ,” Kelsier said, taking her hands in his. “Once you’ve died, you could choose to stay, in the Cognitive Realm. You don’t have to go to the Beyond. I’m _so close_ to figuring out how to return, from the Cognitive Realm to the Physical. We could go back. There’s so much we could do together, Vin.”

She stared at their hands. Stay?

“You don’t have to choose right now,” he added hastily. “I understand it’s a lot to ask. But just… think about it. All right?”

Vin nodded numbly. Kelsier smiled, said something about having to be somewhere.

* * *

“Does he know?” she asked, the next time she saw Kelsier. “Does Elend know that I could stay?”

Kelsier nodded.

* * *

“Are you listening?” Vin demanded. The would-be assassin nodded fearfully.

“Good. You're going to die.” She ignored their whimper. “When you die, you're going to go to a place that looks exactly like here, but as though everything is made of mist. You’ll stay there for a few minutes, at most, but then you’ll go Beyond. When you do, I need you to find Elend Venture.”

“You're _mad,_ ” the assassin whispered.

“ _Find Elend Venture,_ ” she snapped, and the assassin cowered in fear _._ “And when you do, you tell him…” Vin took a shaky breath. “Tell him I'm coming. I don't know exactly when. But I _will_ go to him. I'm not going to stay.”

The assassin probably wouldn't understand or remember anything more than that. It would have to be enough.

“Repeat it back to me.”

They swallowed. They still thought she was mad, Vin could see it in their eyes.

Well. Perhaps she was.

“Find Elend Venture. Tell him you're coming, you're not going to stay.”

“Good enough.”

Vin stabbed them through the eye.

She didn't know if that would truly work. Kelsier didn't know much about the Spiritual Realm, and Harmony clammed up whenever she asked.

But that was her best bet.


	2. scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first part set just before Well of Ascension, second during Hero of Ages. abandoned because I could never figure out how to make it feel truly cohesive. it's almost there, but not quite.

Vin winced, pressing at the wound in her side. She’d have to check it out once she got back to Keep Venture, but for now it didn’t seem too bad. It had been pure luck that had allowed a would-be assassin to nick her, and she wasn’t losing blood fast enough to warrant any concern. She dropped a coin, taking to the rooftops.

The council-whatever would want a report, probably. This was only the third group of assassins since Elend had taken control of the city, but Vin was sure more would be coming. Luthadel was a prime location, especially since it was at the center of the Lord Ruler’s empire. There wouldn’t be a lot to tell the council, though. No signs of allegiance were discerned, and the assassins had been mediocre at best.

 

The window was open. Elend had mentioned a couple of times that her dropping in through the skylight made him nervous. Whether his nervousness was for himself or for Vin, she didn’t know, but she obliged his implied request and went through the window, landing quietly on the carpet. Elend, sitting at the desk, didn’t immediately look up.

“I’m glad you’re back, I was getting worried--Lord Ruler, you’re bleeding.” He scrambled to stand up and approach her. Vin waved him off, beginning her routine check of his rooms. She’d nearly forgotten about her wound on the way back, if she was honest. Pewter was a wonderful thing.

“It isn’t a big deal,” she said, looking in Elend’s closet suspiciously. “I’ll take a look at it and see if I need to get it stitched.”

Elend chuckled slightly, but it sounded forced. “Of course. I should… I should be used to that by now.”

Vin untied her mistcloak and draped it over a chair. “I might need to go get a bandage.”

“Oh, no, that won't be necessary.” Elend retreated behind his desk, opening a drawer and digging around in it. “I thought it might be a good idea to keep some medical supplies in here, since you seem to prefer dropping in here. You shouldn't be moving too much, anyway.” He came back, proffering the bandage.

She nodded, taking it, then frowned. The placement of the wound was rather awkward, considering what she was wearing. “Is it okay if I take my shirt off?”

Elend hesitated, eyebrows furrowing. He still had a lot of anxiety about anything that could be construed as pertaining to sex, since his experience at thirteen. Vin didn’t mind. She wasn’t in any hurry.

“I can do it somewhere else.”

He took a deep breath. “No. I’ll be okay.”

Vin shucked it off with no further preamble. Elend inhaled sharply when he saw the wound, but Vin had seen and had worse. She prodded at the edges, then grabbed the bandage and began wrapping it.

“Hm. I don’t think I’ll need stitches, but we’ll see how it goes. What do you think?”

Elend didn’t respond. She glanced up, hoping he wasn't about to pass out from shock, but he wasn’t staring at the blood. He reached out, fingers ghosting over a scar on Vin’s shoulder.

“Where did you get these?”

She glanced at it. That one had been particularly ugly when she’d first gotten it, but the scar tissue hadn’t knotted up and could easily be covered with makeup. Fortunate when she was infiltrating balls, back in the day. Probably another residual effect of pewter, now that she thought about it. “Depends. Reen, crewleaders like Camon, fights.”

He wasn’t angry about it, she could see that. But his expression was tight, concerned. Vin frowned, finishing up wrapping the bandage.

“I thought you knew about these.”

“It’s different, seeing them.”

“Bad different?”

He didn’t respond, still lightly tracing the scar on her shoulder. Vin finished wrapping her wound. How was she to react to this?

“There’s a lot more on my back,” she tried, attempting to be nonchalant. Elend winced. Not the right reaction, then.

“Can I see them?”

Vin obliged, turning around. She heard his breath turning shaky again and nearly turned back, but stopped when she felt a touch on her spine.

“There are so many,” he whispered.

Vin shrugged, but kept her voice quiet. “Beating is a common punishment. Reen did it a lot.”

“It’s probably a miracle you can still feel anything.” Elend traced another scar. “Do they hurt you now?”

She almost answered in the negative, but paused. Sometimes they itched, like Kelsier’s had. And sometimes she had nightmares about them, even if she wouldn’t admit it. She’d thought she’d grown out of those long ago. So instead, she nodded.

“Mine do too,” Elend said, voice barely audible. The words took a moment to hit home.

“Yours?” She twisted around to look at him, startling his hand off her back.

“Oh. You… you don’t know.” Elend half-chuckled. “Sorry. I still expect you to know things about noble culture and all…”

“What do you mean?”

Elend looked at the carpet, twisting his hands. “Mistings--Mistborn--they’re considered very valuable assets to a house. Especially to my father. You know that. But to be one, you have to… you have to Snap. And there aren’t really a lot of… of naturally occurring opportunities for that in noble society. So if you really want to know if your child is a Misting or not…”

“They beat you.” Vin kept her tone neutral. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. Another reminder that noble society wasn’t as beautiful as it appeared--ever--but this was new. It was easier to swallow inter-House violence, but to think that nobles did what skaa slumlords and crewleaders did…

She was coming to learn they weren’t as different as she’d once thought. She’d assumed that noble society was simply more involved with emotional abuse and manipulation, because it was easier to hide and disguise, but scars--in the right places--were easy to hide too.

“Yes.” He paused, his breath sounding erratic again. “Is it--is it all right if--can i show you?”

Vin nodded. He wouldn’t look at her as he took off his jacket, then his shirt, then turned around so she could see the lattice of raised scars. He had far fewer, but they were ugly and stark. As he had, Vin carefully reached out to touch them.

“Customarily, the parent has the child beaten nearly to death,” Elend said, head bowed slightly. “Depending on the parent, the age at which these beatings happen vary. My father was obsessed, and he was…” He swallowed hard. “It happened pretty early, but I remember it well. He was very disappointed when… when I wasn’t. A Misting, I mean.”

Perhaps that was why Reen had beaten her. He had known her father was the prelan, and having Misting powers had kept her alive when she should've died long ago.

Slowly, carefully, Vin stepped closer and put her arms around Elend’s waist, pressing her cheek to his bare back. He let out a breath, and some of his tension went with it.

There was no making up for what had happened in the past. Reen was gone now, as was Camon, and Straff--well, hopefully Straff would stay far away.

Scars didn’t heal. But they could fade.

* * *

Elend scratched at his beard, giving it a once over in the mirror. He could wait to trim it, he decided. It wasn't quite to the point where it could be described as “scraggly”, so it was acceptable. Tindwyl would probably disagree, he remembered fondly, but he couldn't waste their limited materials now.

“Where did you put that hairbrush?” Vin called.

“It's right here, by me.”

Vin slipped in behind him, reaching under his arm to snag the brush. She had to stand on her tiptoes to see over his shoulder into the mirror. “Hm.”

“Hm?”

“You look good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

He smiled in her direction. "You look good too."

"Thanks." Vin ripped the brush through her hair, and Elend winced.

"What?"

"Why are you brushing so hard?"

She shrugged. "It's efficient."

“But it pulls out your beautiful hair,” Elend said, turning around and gently teasing the brush from Vin’s hand.

“We're in the middle of a siege, Elend. I don't think we need to worry too much about my hair.”

“I worry.” Elend began to brush her hair, stopping to untangle knots with his fingers when he hit a snag. Vin sighed contently, despite her previous protests.

He went through it twice, then put the brush down and continued running his fingers through it.

After a few minutes Vin turned around and rested her forehead on his chest. He continued stroking her hair.

“You have so many more scars now,” Vin whispered, and he felt her fingers brush over his stomach. Over the wicked scar the mist spirit had given him.

“It's not your fault.”

She didn't respond. Elend abandoned her hair in favor of cradling her face.

“Vin. I know it seems like it is. After all, you _are_ the one who infiltrated the nobility, killed the Lord Ruler, stayed with me through those rocky first couple of years of ruling, and convinced me to go to the Well of Ascension.”

Vin gave him a look, saying _this isn't helping_ without a word _._ Elend smiled and rubbed his thumb over her cheek.

“But I'm the one that chose to keep following you. Even when I found out you were skaa, when the skaa were rebelling, when you went to Kredik Shaw, and when you went to the Well.

“I _chose_ that, Vin. I chose to stay with you. And I'm still going to choose that. All the wounds and scars in the world couldn't dissuade me.”

Vin traced over another scar, then smiled softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Elend kissed her forehead.


	3. you live like this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> modern au, originally loosely based off of that one story where that one person's house was broken into but instead of robbing him the guys who broke in were like "you live like this?" and brought him some furniture and stuff. discontinued because I didn't know where it was going.

Elend honestly wasn't sure why he woke up. These days, he usually slept like a rock. Trying to keep the business his father had abandoned afloat in the wake of the worst house war they'd seen in decades from his college dorm was exhausting. Yet at a couple of light pokes, he was blinking blearily awake. Someone was kneeling before him, which was strange. Had Jastes lost his senses and come ba...

That wasn't Jastes. Elend let out a shriek, propelling himself backwards and promptly cracking his head against the wall.

“Shhh! Elend, stop, it's me!”

Elend squinted at the figure, rubbing his head. Was that… “Valette? Valette! Lord Ruler, you're okay. I tried to go find you, but... what are you doing here?”

“It's a long story.” Valette glanced around the room. “You… live like this?”

“Well, yeah.” Elend sat up, pushing himself out of his sleeping bag, and self-consciously ran a hand through his hair. “Since my father has left Luthadel to collapse, I've been trying to conserve money. Sold as much as I could, but my tuition and board has already been paid, so I've… wait. _Wait_.” Jastes had said something about Valette before he'd left, and Felt… “You--you're a skaa!”

“Yes.”

Hearing her confirm it made it so much more real!“Lord Ruler, I have so much to ask you about. How did you do it? What were you doing? Obviously you were running a scam of some sort, but to what end? I'm not mad, I promise,” he added hastily. “Well. Jastes thinks I am, because I'm not, but I just--I'm glad you're okay. How did you do it?”

Valette hunched her shoulders. “Like I said. Long story.”

“I think we have time.”

“I don't. I need to be back soon. I just… I came to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye? You're leaving?” So much to process, all at once. Valette was _here_ , and she was a _skaa_ \--but she was here because she was leaving. That was good, right? He'd told her to leave, to get out of here before things got worse. But that was when she was noble. How were the skaa taking this?

“I'm not leaving, no. But I might… I might...” Valette sighed. “There's too much to explain, Elend.”

“Summarize, then.”

Valette shot him an annoyed glare. “That would leave you more confused than you are now.”

“Give it a shot.”

She pressed her lips together. Something was different about Valette now; not just her wardrobe, although that alone was hard to miss. She seemed less refined, but not in a bad way--more relaxed and comfortable, he supposed. Sure of herself. The realization gave him a painful pang. How well did he even know Valette?

“Fine. My name is Vin, I'm a skaa-born Mistborn, my father figure died about twenty two hours ago, the skaa of Luthadel are in revolt, and I am going to go kill God, which may or may not result in my own death. So I came to say goodbye.”

Elend gaped. _Vin_. _Mistborn. Revolt…_

 _Kill_ **_God_** _?_

“Perhaps your initial assessment was correct. That _is_ a lot of information to take in.”

“Yeah.”


	4. amazonian vin worshippers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once in the friday night cosmere mibbit chat someone (I think it was Holly) brought up the potential of Amazonian Vin Worshippers making an appearance in Era 2. abandoned real fast, because Era 2 isn't exactly my forte, and I also didn't know where I was going with it. I still think it has great potential. and I like how history can get twisted up and around into legends.

In moments, they were surrounded. Marasi stared them down, fighting her apprehension. Was their intel reliable?

“Why have you come here, strangers?” one asked, authority brimming from her bearing. “It is well known that we are not to be disturbed.”

“The Sovereign sent us. Or the Survivor. Whichever name you know him by.”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “He has not sent anyone to us in over a decade, and never in such large numbers.”

Large numbers? There were four people in their party. Marasi decided to ignore that.

“It's of utmost importance that we speak with your leader as soon as we can. The Sovereign sent so many so that we would not fail.”

The woman studied them with still narrowed eyes.

* * *

“The Val?”

“Our leader is always called Val, after the Ascendant Warrior's second in command,” the woman explained. “Val infiltrated high society for information, and it was she who brought the Emperor and the Ascendant Warrior together. Val was in love with him first, but when she saw the great love her leader had for him, she stepped aside. She sacrificed everything for the Ascendant Warrior. As we must be willing to do.”

“When the Ascendant Warrior returns, we will be here to support her,” another said.

“I could get behind this,” Marasi whispered.


End file.
